A man was detained by police on Monday for throwing bangles at Union Textiles Minister Smriti Irani when she was addressing a function in Amreli town. The incident took place hours after 26 Congress workers, including former Amreli MP Virji Thummar, were detained while taking a march towards the venue of Irani’s public meeting — Sauno Sath, Sauno Vikas Sammelan where she highlighted various achievements of the BJP-led central government in three years.

The man who threw bangles at the event has been identified as Ketan Kaswala, a resident of Mota Bhandaria village in Amreli district. According to Amreli SP Jagdish Patel, “As the minister was addressing the crowd, Kaswala, who was sitting far from the dais, suddenly got up and threw two or three bangles towards the stage and shouted ‘Vande Mataram’.”

While local Congress leaders claimed Kaswala, by throwing the bangles, raised the demand for farm loan waiver, police denied it. Earlier, Congress workers, led by Thummar, were detained while taking out a march towards the venue of the event. They were demanding better prices of farm produce. In the morning, Irani addressed a similar event in Keshod town of Junagadh. Police detained four functionaries of the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti before the rally. She had addressed similar meetings in Porbandar and Veraval on Sunday.